It aims to “predict Pyongyang’s response to different scenarios, and to avoid war, the international community needs to understand how the regime sees its nuclear weapons, and when it would use them”.

North Korea released this picture of Kim Jong-un being presented with plans to launch ballistic missiles towards the US territory of Guam following the country’s war of words with Donald Trump. Picture: KCNASource:Supplied

It also warns Pyongyang’s weapons program is here to stay.

“European policymakers must accept the fact that Pyongyang is a rational actor and that there is no prospect of talks on unilateral disarmament,” the report states.

Kim Jong-un sees nuclear weapons as vital to ensuring the survival of his regime,

“Without certainty that its arsenal could survive a first strike by its enemies, Pyongyang’s deterrence relies on the threat of launching the first strike itself,” it states.

Manhattan has also been identified as a potential target in the report. Picture: Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesSource:AFP

The rogue state also wants to ensure there is no doubt it will use such weapons if a strike was carried out against its missile or nuclear sites.

TARGET LIST

The targets may not come as a surprise given the North has been engaged in a public war of words with US President Donald Trump.

Mr Trump this week declared North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism, adding Kim Jong-un’s nuclear-armed pariah regime to a short blacklist of targeted regimes. Picture: Saul Loeb/AFPSource:AFP

In August, Mr Trump’s “fire and fury” threat exacerbated tensions between the US and North Korea, sparking a diplomatic firestorm and causing North Korea to threaten that it would fire missiles into waters around Guam if the US struck first.

“North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen,” Mr Trump said.

Professor of International Security & Intelligence Studies Director at ANU, John Blaxland told news.com.au, “It is a predictable list that could have been compiled by any reasonably informed undergraduate student in our bachelor of international security studies program here at the ANU.

“The target list includes known US facilities in the Pacific as well as the same ones that Sl Wards sought to target back on 9/11, 2001.”

US officials cited the killing of North Korean leader Kim’s estranged half-brother Kim Jong-nam in a Malaysian airport earlier this year as an act of terrorism.

Mr Trump said the move long was overdue and formed part of the US “maximum pressure campaign” against the rogue nuclear regime.

North Korea called Mr Trump’s decision a “serious provocation” that justified its development of nuclear weapons.

Prof Blaxland said, “The absence of any focus on Trump appears to point to the White Paper’s assessment that the Trump phenomenon is not necessarily an aberration, but indicative instead of a broader and perhaps long-lasting phenomenon.

“The paper reflects concern over the American president’s transactional approach to international relations, his distancing from multilateral trade arrangements like the TPP and his inconsistencies over regional security crises and arrangements.

“The combination of factors makes the Foreign Policy pronouncements all the more important. It reflects the passing of the unipolar moment of US hegemony and the emergence of a more unsettled era wherein Australia has to work considerably harder to build relationships and mechanisms that will bolster security and stability and, in turn, provide further opportunities for boosting our economic prospects.”

TARGETS NOT MENTIONED

Nuclear disarmament campaigner John Hallam questioned the solid evidence behind the full list of North Korea’s potential targets.

Mr Hallam said most of the list of references at the back of the report for the target list were mostly sourced from KCNA and Rodong, the official news and propaganda arms of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

He also said North Korea was highly unlikely to advertise its nuclear target list.

“While obviously some information can be garnered therefrom, precisely because these are more or less official sources, they may not tell us everything because the DPRK may not want us to know everything,” Mr Hallam said.

North Korea claims the US calling it a sponsor of terror was a “serious provocation” that justified its nuclear program. Picture: Ahn Young-joon/APSource:AP

“After all, target lists in the US, Russia and China are all highly classified.”

Mr Hallam said he was surprised the list didn’t include submarine bases and StratCom (United States Strategic Command), a nuclear command and control facility.

“Yes the list seems roughly credible but I have one or two little quibbles,” he told news.com.au. “If I were Kim Jong-un or his targeting team and were making up such a list, I’d have StratCom, NORAD and various submarine bases and air bases high up — I’d want as far as possible to try to paralyse or disable US retaliatory capability.”

Mr Hallam said it was also important to remember the report strongly emphasised the need for the DPRK to strike first. The omission of key targets here in Australia was also a concern.

“Outside the US the two most critical targets would have to be Pine Gap and NW Cape — both here in Australia — I don’t understand their absence,” he said.

“They are absolutely critical to US command and control capabilities. NW Cape transmits targeting information to US nuclear submarines via very low frequency radio waves and would have to be a critical priority nuclear target especially for anything like a pre-pre-emptive strike.”

Mr Hallam said he remained sceptical of their absence because, while nothing to do with a part Australia may or may not play in a conflict, they were “too important” not to be included.

Could Korean Reunification actually happen?1:26

As tensions on the Korean peninsula rise, the hope of reunification is still on the mind of the Korean people
who have held onto the dream since the country was divided into North Korea and South Korea after WW2.